Abstract
Abstract Individuals develop personal networks in a cumulative way over the life course, with early adulthood being a critical period with multiple transitions relating to family formation and entry into the labour market. Existing research on personal networks and the life course usually stresses the impact of single life transitions and events on the composition of personal networks. Contrastingly, this paper investigates the impact of whole work-family trajectories over a retrospective time period of 20 years corresponding to early adulthood (roughly 20 to 40 years old) on the composition of personal networks. Drawing on a Swiss sample of individuals born between 1970 and 1975, results revealed the critical impact of the family trajectories for the development of personal networks, and showed how the current diversity of personal networks is accounted for by trajectories deviating from the family developmental model.
Highlights
Research addressing life course factors shaping personal networks for the most part focus on single life transitions and events (Wingens et al, 2012)
Individuals develop personal networks in a cumulative way over the life course, with early adulthood being a critical period with multiple transitions relating to family formation and entry into the labour market
Drawing on a Swiss sample of individuals born between 1970 and 1975, results revealed the critical impact of the family trajectories for the development of personal networks, and showed how the current diversity of personal networks is accounted for by trajectories deviating from the family developmental model
Summary
Research addressing life course factors shaping personal networks for the most part focus on single life transitions and events (Wingens et al, 2012) They usually stress the variation of network composition and structure according to the life stage in which respondents are at the time of the interview (McDonald & Mair, 2010). Life trajectory is an overarching concept that stresses the time related, systemic nature of the interactions existing between singular events, transitions and stages (Aisenbrey & Fasang, 2010) It is defined as a chronological variation of the social statuses held by an individual in various life spheres, such as family and work (George, 1993; Levy & Bühlmann, 2016), and stress their interdependencies on the long run (Gauthier, Widmer, Bucher, & Notredame, 2010). The recognition of these “linked ecologies” provides explanatory models to be empirically tested for how the accumulation of past actions become the facilitators or constraints of the round of action (Abbott, 2016; Dannefer, 2003)
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